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The Unknown MVP

Well, it’s official…

I was actually made an MVP in April of this year by Microsoft, in the product category of Small Business Server.

It’s a long story, but I simply never received the news. At least not until the eagle-eye of one Ms. Susan Elise Bradley happened to notice an old e-mail address of mine, which was tied to a former employer, on a broadcast e-mail.

A quick flurry of e-mails ensued, paths were cleared, and all was resolved.

I’m truly honored by this, especially because of the MVP award’s simultaneous focus on both technical excellence and community-building. 

Most of all, I’m thankful for all of the people over the last 2 years who:

• Stopped by here at the Funcave or over at the Funboard.
• Took time to hear me present, either in-person or via LiveMeeting.
• Joined Alabama SMB.
• Listened to SBS Show, especially in its earliest, fledgling days.
• Gave me a kind word, or a kick in the tail, that I sorely needed.

So thanks everybody.

|| posted by chris under community, it pro, more cowbell || comments (7) || ||

What Does DDBSW Mean?

The other day, someone asked why they keep seeing this image all over the Funcave…

In a nutshell, folks skating for images were posting direct links to the graphics at the Funcave.

And it just happened to catch me on the wrong day, at the wrong time.

So I set up a rewrite rule to redirect all direct-linking traffic to that little graphic above.

But certain feed readers get caught in this kiboshing. Sorry folks, I don’t have an infinite number of monkeys working on the FC. For the record, I basically test the following when making a change:

• IE 7

On a good day, I’ll also check using:

• RSS Bandit

But other than that, you’re on your own.

Oh, and to the MySpace coolsters and FaceBook nitwits…

This category’s for you!

|| posted by chris under kma || comments (3) || ||

A Little Nip Here, A Little Tuck There

So I let the robot horde loose at the Funcave today.

And boy did it need it!

We got to tinkering with all sorts of doo-dads and gizmos and whats-its.

So you might notice a couple of interesting additions here and there. Let me give you the nickel tour…

1. Digg button = in the upper left corner of every post. For all you compulsive Diggers out there.
2. Technorati Faves button = on the right, just under my mug shot there. For all you compulsive Technorati fans out there.
3. Bookmark button = also on the right. Courtesy of those crazy kids at AddThis.com. You can bookmark the Funcave using nearly every type of system out there from that one little button.
4. Subscribe button = you guessed it…on the right. For folks who are too scared of that terrifying orange RSS block in the subhead up above. Works a lot like the Bookmark button, except for subscribing to the Funcave feed.
5. Bookmark-A-Palooza = at the end of each post. Each and every icon is a unique button to submit the respective post to a different bookmarking service. Oh yeah…it looks like this:

More stuff going on behind-the-scenes here at both the FC and the FB. So don’t be a stranger…not when things are heating up!

|| posted by chris under funboard, funlab, robot || comments (2) || ||

Since When Did Free Become Too Expensive?

If you’re an MCSA or MCSE on Server 2003 looking to update to the next-gen certifications, the official upgrade path is now publicly available. Of course, this path has been available on the MCP-only site for a couple of months now, so if you’re on the ball you should already know all about it.

I can already hear the whining about how expensive it will be.

V’s mentioned the exam discount offer for pre-existing cert holders. There are also 5 other discount offers related to training and certification running right now.

And, if you’re worrying about the cost of training, you can quit your bellyaching about that too…

Continue reading this post at the Funboard

|| posted by chris under biz, freebie, it pro || comments (0) || ||

Brother, Can You Spare A Ticket to WPC?

Hey everybody…this is a request for a friend.

If you have a ticket for WPC, but aren’t planning to go, please contact me ASAP. I know someone that would like to “take over” your spot.

So instead of you just flat cancelling if you can’t go, please ping me and I’ll give you the contact info for this person.

The benefit to you is that if you slide your ticket over to someone else, you essentially get a full refund once their payment info takes over the reservation, etc.

Otherwise, if you just cancel your ticket now, you will get zero refund.

|| posted by chris under travel || comments (0) || ||